About Me

Monday, March 03, 2014

A Funeral in Kwabeng, Akyem

Saturday I went to the funeral of our janitor. It was in Kwabeng in Akyem. I have been to one other funeral in Ghana, but it was in the Greater Accra area. Ghanaian funerals are of great anthropological interest for a variety of reasons, but I am not as enamored of them as some white people. I went mainly to show the deceased's family that I respected him enough to be the only white man to attend his funeral. I did not go to socialize or observe the colorful cultural rituals associated with death and burial among Ghanaian Christians. Nonetheless, Ghanaian funerals are very different from most of those in the US. There is a lot more singing, dancing, and otherwise celebratory activity than most American funerals. It is certainly worth seeing one if possible while in Ghana. After one, however, and the various cultural rituals greatly diminish in impact as one realizes that in fact somebody has died and is being placed under the ground.